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mashama bailey wins james beard award for top chef: southeast

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The most wonderful news this week came out of Chicago Monday evening: Mashama Bailey of The Grey restaurant in Savannah won the James Beard Award: Top Chef: Southeast.

For those of us living and eating out in Savannah; we have been well aware and have been waiting (kind of) patiently! It brings a gush of fresh air into the lungs to see this woman recognized for all she is, thinks and does.

“We should all be very proud of ourselves,” she said. “We are moving this country forward in the right direction. I am a black girl from Queens, New York, and my most influential cuisine is Peter’s Kitchen Chinese take-out, ” the AJC recently quoted Bailey.

Bailey is the first black American to win this award. She is the second woman of color as Nina Compton (born and raised in the Caribbean) of Compère Lapin, in New Orleans won for best chef in the South. But only LAST year - 2018. Good grief. May more women rise to be recognized!

Congratulations to Mashama Bailey, John Morisano and The Grey team. Thank you for your two fabulous locations and thank you for bringing a bright shiny comet of GREAT and redemptive news into our week.

mashama bailey of THE GREY restaurant, top chef in the southeast + in this writer’s heart

mashama bailey of THE GREY restaurant, top chef in the southeast + in this writer’s heart

southern discomfort 2016

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This painting and those made by some twenty other savannah artists will be made available by silent auction on April 1st, 2016 from 6-9 pm at Non-Fiction Gallery in Savannah.  All works are inspired by Flannery O'Connor and her works.  Proceeds benefit the Flannery O'Connorchikdhood Home.

Please email me if you wish to bid by proxy. 

flannery o'connor in gucci, 10"X 10", water-based media on panel, 2016

flannery o'connor in gucci, 10"X 10", water-based media on panel, 2016

saaABMB15 | sasha wolf gallery

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Even though a super dirty dude with dreads, badly in need of a shower, had just breezed through Sasha Wolf Gallery at Miami Project, the booth looked substantial, open, felt inviting and proved very well planned.  We remarked to Ms. Wolf that it had been very thoughtful of fair coordinators to provide inset flooring that created an arc that visually extended the "gallery" into the corridor. Like the open feeling of the space, Ms. Wolf thanked us warmly for complimenting the strong feng shui and even admitted that it took much maneuvering to find the right balance of the location of the work, her chair and that of her desk. On the tabletop, a sweet little vintage looking book sat just so at Ms. Wolf's left. I wondered if the gallerist planned on reading much (cool breeze that she is) or if the little piece of prose served as part of what we decided was the best installed of all that we saw.

Clearly, Ms. Wolf knows things other gallerists don't and I bet that book holds some of her secrets. Why didn't I take a photograph?

The "breath of fresh air" Sandoz Art Award for Art Basel Miami Beach (using this to represent the whole shebang - fairs, hotel installations, street, private, etc) 2015, enthusiastically goes to Sasha Wolf Gallery.  

katherine sandoz, sasha wolf, prismacolor on paper, december 9, 2015

katherine sandoz, sasha wolf, prismacolor on paper, december 9, 2015



sandoz art awards

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Old program - giving out awards - new name: Sandoz Art Awards.  Like the Swiss Art Awards, I have 11 awards (or more) to bestow.  While I don't offer winners 25,000 CHF and an artist residency in Mexico (!), the gallery, person or piece of art does have a portrait or drawing made in homage to the achievement.

artist denise duong photographed by katherine sandoz, oklahoma city, june 2015

artist denise duong photographed by katherine sandoz, oklahoma city, june 2015